I was driving from Santa Cruz to San Francisco in a serious rain storm. Through the windshield and the wet, I saw a loaded bike tourist riding north. At least the wind was at his back!

It got me to thinking about the times I've been the guy riding in a bad rainstorm. While heavy rain is a drag, for me, it doesn't necessarily make me ride any less mileage. If I have the choice, I will stop earlier rather than later, but if not, I keep riding until I get where I need to go. Of course, this all changes if lightning is near by.

What do you do when you are out touring and a heavy rain comes on? Do you stop or keep riding? If you keep going, do you shorted your day?

Ray

What I would do depends on many factors:

- what my schedule is?
- is there anything I'd be late for by taking a break or short day?
- what are my rain day options?
- how cold it is?
- how much rain is anticipated?
- how many days is it expected to rain for?
- how localized is the rain?

Just an example I was on a dirt road tour up north when it started to rain heavily. I had nowhere to hide, but my tent and no services for a few days so I soldiered on fairly miserably. If I was in a nice town with a hotel and hot tub and the rain was going to only last a day or two I'd be happy to take a break in town and relax until the bad weather passed.

There's no single answer that will work for all cases, but if I can avoid riding in heavy rain I'll do it. If there is no choice - what can you do? I'll just get on the bike and get on with it.

getting wet is one thing but getting cold and wet throws a whole new light on cycling in the rain.
happened me in France couple years back i taught i was going to die after riding near enough 70 miles into Roscoff in monsoon like rain.

+1

It depends on a lot of things.

But bad weather is one of the reasons that when I plan a tour, I prefer to keep the schedule loose, and to allow for frequent days off.

I too would answer "it depends".

Sometimes I might ride long mileage and others I might shorten up the mileage a bit. I wouldn't rule out a day off for rain, but have not done that yet.

Frequently I've had a clue about the weather when I set out in the morning. If it were a sudden and unexpected storm, then it often is shorter. So while I'm in the "it depends" group as well, if I have a choice, it is nicer to cycle without a hard driving rain. (Light showers or intermittent rain is not a big deal). I've had one occasion when in the Outback of Australia that I quickly set up my tent - let the storm front quickly pass through and then packed things up and continued. I've had occasion in Newfoundland with a cold/wet rain that I stopped in the next town and holed up for the afternoon. I've had occasion on gravel roads in Russia that turned to peanut butter texture that we holed up for a day to (unsuccessfully) try to wait things out for a day. I've also had occasions I just soldiered on.

I don't mind getting wet or setting or breaking camp in the rain. What gets a little old is waking up to a wet camp -riding in the wet all day and still having it be wet and rainy when setting up camp again. Not a big deal to take down camp in the rain - or ride in the rain - or set up camp in the rain; but one day with all three gets a bit old; and more so when it gets repeated a few days in a row.

That is why typically I'll plan my longer travels with some extra days here and there. This way I can adapt to changing circumstances and not be on a "must ride" destination each day.

overall I have been lucky on my trips, not having the forementioned pack up in rain, ride in rain and setup wet...blerk.
I have however had some extra days to take a day off, and also have used cheapish B+B or motel type places when its been a very wet day and I could do with a break (and kinda figured that on a trip, as we are usually being frugalish anyway with camping and cooking our own food, a night or two in a cheap place is not the end of the world.

the answers already put down are pretty much spot on for me, but as Ive said, in the summer touring Ive done, rain has seldom been an all day or multi day thing.(must touch wood on that one though)

It depends on a lot of other factors. In Japan last year I simply kept riding right through a typhoon-inspired downpour, simply because it was the few bits of relief I'd had from the heatwave the entire time I was there. Another time in New Zealand I shortened a day due to downpour that came with (summer) temperatures of 6 degrees C and 90km/h headwinds. In Scotland I got nothing but rain for basically the first three weeks I was there, and after a few days of it, you develop a certain toughness that prevents you from caring about the weather anymore.

I should add that my experience as a 365 day commuter has exposed to some pretty extreme tropical downpours over the years. There was one in 2005 that dumped an "official" total of 500mm of rain in 12 hours, and another in 2004 that dumped around 250mm in five hours with 135km/h wind gusts. There have been plenty of others that dumped 70-100mm in the space of an hour, and I've ridden through the lot. Rain is something I've grown used to -- assuming it's not too cold.

It depends on where I am, when the rain has started and how heavily it's coming down.

If it's a light and pleasant summer rain, I'll just keep going. Sooner or later, the rain is going to stop and I'll dry off. If a cold rain is pelting down, I'll look for somewhere to take shelter, either to wait out the rain or to stop for the night. If it's a cold rain and I need to meet a distance deadline, I'll just push ahead. If it's late in the day and the sky is threatening rain, I may try to stop for the night as soon as possible so I'm not setting up the tent in the rain. (I don't mind being in a tent on a rainy night and I don't mind packing up on a rainy morning, but I hate setting up in the rain.)

I always bring a NOAA weather radio with me. Mine weighs 6 oz., but it's worth it even if we're trying to go very light. Helps when we're sitting in our tent in the rain and trying to figure out what to do. Coverage has been very good where I've been except for a very few places in the mountains. We also hate setting up in the rain.

In general, I ride when it's drizzling, but seek shelter when it's raining hard. I do not ride in or soon after electrical storms, full stop!

A few years ago, a friend and I did a five hour circle trip in a fairly remote area. About an hour into the trip, a torrential rainstorm hit us. We really had no option other than press on. We were in the Canadian shield, so there was not much shelter. During most of the trip, we encountered almost no traffic, passed through no towns, and saw few homes/farms. We had rain gear and plenty of food, so were fine. But had it been cold, it would have been a different story!

Depends

A quick onset of heavy rain? I might seek immediate shelter in hopes that it will move on.
A few days of light rain I will probably press on.
A few days of heavy rain? I most likely will stay put and either wait for it to clear, chose a route out of the rain or bail.

Aaron

March thru May cycling up the Irish west coast, I lived in my rain gear,,
shoe covers , parka hood pulled up, i was OK, head cold once.. akorak pocket
had a packet of fisherman's friend lozenges in it then ..

stopped at pubs and Hostels and rough camped .

I'm somewhat neurotic about keeping dry on tour. I'm a cold sleeper, and it takes me forever to warm up in the morning. I usually only carry two sets of clothing and always having something dry to warm up in is pretty important. The only time I won't stop and take shelter in the rain is if it's very early in the day and I am reasonably certain it will clear up in time to dry my clothes, or if I'm heading to a developed campground with a laundromat somewhere nearby, but heavy rain will make the day a lot less enjoyable and I feel I'm missing out - I'd rather wait out the rain and enjoy the route later.

+1 for always carrying a NOAA radio.

As long as it mostly just drizzling, no. I've got good rain gear, including waterproof shoes and gloves. I do stop if the rain becomes too heavy and wait it out, so if prolonged, well then yes, it would affect my mileage. Or, if the road I was going to travel was narrow with a lot of traffic, I would hesitate to ride in rain, out of respect for my safety and of motorist.

I go prepared for riding all day in heavy, cool rain. I had a couple of days of it in Denmark and Norway.
Once Im going in the rain I find it easier to keep going than to stop.
You have to be careful about keeping kit dry. I used drybags inside my panniers. They are useful for organising kit and keeping stuff dry in the tent as well as on the bike. You cant really take drenched, muddy panniers inside a tent.
It can be tricky keeping the tent dry and clean after several days of rain. Fortunately my sleeping bag performed well when damp. You can even dry damp clothing inside a sleeping bag.
My waterproof socks began to fail and I had cold wet feet for a week. This is deeply unpleasant. I reverted to supermarket plastic bags but nothing would keep them dry. You get a kind of trenchfoot which is very painful. Despite showering twice day, something started to smell, i dont know if it was clothes or feet.

Walking around a cold, wet campsite in sandals takes some getting used to.

You need something to sit on. I used a 3/4 length inflatable mat and a 1/3 length foam mat which doubled up as a sitting mat in the wet vestibule.

Ive ridden all day in Gortex and you get wet inside as well as outside. I dragged a Paramo jacket around in my panniers for about 5 weeks before I used it, then I lived in it, well worth the bulk and weight.

Some of my best days riding were wet days. Crossing a headland in Denmark in horizontal rain with the bike path covered in frog-lets, riding through misty rain-soaked mountain forests.

Yes, drybags inside waterproof panniers are great. You can throw the drybags in the tent and back in the panniers without anything getting wet. Everything fabric in drybag compression sacks.

When touring I ride each day until it rains, then I take the day off to rest. While I don't especially mind riding in warm rain, I am convinced that sharing the road with vehicles is dangerous enough when they can see me. When it is raining visibility is reduced as are my odds. Just my preference.

Touring is supposed to be a pleasant pursuit for me, not a job. So I try to keep it flexible. If I am not having fun, I stop. The weather is just one of many factors including whether a locale is particularly pretty, the muscles ache, etc.

If it's not cold outside, I don't mind the rain too much if it starts to rain while I'm riding. If it's already raining out, I'll rarely head out into it. A light rain can often make the surroundings more beautiful, so there are upsides. What bothers me are all the headaches from riding in wet weather:

1) I don't like twisty descents on wet roads, and I don't like descending with poor vision from wet and foggy sunglasses and/or without sunglasses if I take them off.

2) If it's cool and it starts to rain, then my clothing gets wet, heavy, and dirty. No fun, IMO.

3) The bike tends to get real dirty on a rainy ride, so I always hose it off gently, wipe it down, and then relube the chain and other moving parts as necessary. Not a big deal, but not something I enjoy doing.

its rain, darkness/vision and traffic for me...
0 = happy
1 of 3 is ok, i keep riding (sing in rain, enjoy the dark, wave at cars, wathever)
2 of 3, depends if i have a good reason to keep going
all 3... stop, even if it means sleeping wet, next to a highway, till morning, just stop

OMG! It's the craziest of crazyguys.
Wazzup? And what about that girl from Sarawak??

Juan from Wyoming

PS - Go Carolina!!

Raybo -

Rain is wet.

I will ride in a light shower or if I am really close.
But, generally, when it rains - I stop.
I am usually not itinerary driven - so I stop.
I do not like being a drenched dog.
Even with a Leak-Tex North Face jacket, I get sweaty.
And the gods may punish me for all the curses sent heavenwards.

Not to mention that rain makes you less visible to motorists.
And in touristy spots like Yellowstone - makes them grumpy, too.

Link - Speaking of grumpy - and Half Moon Bay - -
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/p..._id=26284&v=RI

A rainy bicycle idyll....

bicycle touring in the cold rain in early november..



There's a lot of variables. if its so bad your safety or livelyhood is affected, by all means sit it out. I've put in 100 mile plus days in the rain, but rain usually cuts mileage down by a little bit. It certainly makes more sense to take it easy on rainy days, perhaps wait one out.

I've seen ground spray conditions so bad on the interstates and large highways visibility is really degraded. i worry somewhat crossing interstate ramps in very bad visibility associated with heavy rain and road spray. but these shouldered roads are much more tolerable than riding shoulderless roads in heavy rain. no shoulder/heavy rain/ fast & heavy traffic? I'll wait it out.

Once I'm riding though, I'm with MichaelW...

Invaluable when bikecamping in the wet : TARP to huddle under.

Jamawani--I hear you on the grumpy part of it, I can get to be a real grumpy sob with too much rain.

Jama and Bek--this makes me think of an old friend from Vancouver, who when coming to Montreal to go to University the same year I came here, told of being on the street in the fall and noticing that when it began to rain,that she was the only one left walking on the sidewalk. Everyone else had gone inside, but being a good West Coaster, she just kept on walking. This touches on teh whole thing of what you are used to. As she put it, if you went inside for rain in Vancouver, you would never get anywhere, but here in the east, especially in summer, a big rain comes and goes. Hence my penchant for stopping in shelter for rain if on my bike, especially if heavy, as it usually passes and it aint worth getting all wet if one can avoid it and it will clear in 15 or 30 mins (obviously doesnt always, but in summer ususally does)